मैं

मैं

See also: म and में

Dogri

Etymology

From Khasa Prakrit [Term?] (compare Sauraseni Prakrit 𑀫𑀏 (mae)), from Sanskrit मया (mayā), from Proto-Indo-Iranian *máyaH (the instrumental singular of *aȷ́ʰám (“I”)), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁móy.

Pronoun

मैं (ma͠i)

1. I

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Hindi

Etymology

Inherited from Old Hindi मैं (maiṃ), from Sauraseni Apabhramsa मइं (maĩ), from Sauraseni Prakrit 𑀫𑀏 (mae), from Sanskrit मया (mayā), from Proto-Indo-Iranian *máyaH (the instrumental singular of *aȷ́ʰám (“I”)), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁móy.[1][2][3]

Cognate to Punjabi ਮੈਂ (maĩ), Nepali म (ma), Assamese মই (moi), Oriya ମୁଁ (mum̐) , Sylheti ꠝꠥꠁ (mui), Kamta মুই (mui), Marathi मी (mī), all deriving from oblique forms of the first-person personal pronoun.

Pronunciation

• (Delhi Hindi) IPA^(key): /mɛ̃ː/
• (dialectal) IPA^(key): /məɪ/, [məɪ̯]

• Audio

  (file)

Pronoun

मैं • (ma͠i) m or f (Urdu spelling مَیں‎)

1. I (the first person personal singular pronoun)

   मैं एक आदमी हूँ।

   ma͠i ek ādmī hū̃.

   I am a man.

Inflection

Declension of मैं
direct	मैं (ma͠i)
indirect	मुझ (mujh)
ergative	मैंने (mainne)
genitive	मेरा (merā)
dative	मुझे (mujhe) , मुझको (mujhko)

References

1. Vit Bubenik; Chitra Paranjape (April 1996), “Development of Pronominal Systems from Apabhraṃśa to New Indo-Aryan”, in Indo-Iranian Journal‎, volume 39, issue 2, Brill, pages 111–132
2. Turner, Ralph Lilley (1969–1985), “ma”, in A Comparative Dictionary of the Indo-Aryan Languages, London: Oxford University Press
3. Pischel, Richard; Jha, Subhadra (contributor) (1957) Comparative Grammar of the Prakrit Languages‎, Varanasi: Motilal Banarasidass.

Further reading

• McGregor, Ronald Stuart (1993), “मैं”, in The Oxford Hindi-English Dictionary, London: Oxford University Press
• Platts, John T. (1884), “मैं”, in A dictionary of Urdu, classical Hindi, and English, London: W. H. Allen & Co.
• Caturvedi, Mahendra; Bhola Nath Tiwari (1970), “मैं”, in A practical Hindi-English dictionary, Delhi: National Publishing House

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Kumaoni

Etymology

From Khasa Prakrit [Term?] (compare Sauraseni Prakrit 𑀫𑀏 (mae)), from Sanskrit मया (mayā), from Proto-Indo-Iranian *máyaH (the instrumental singular of *aȷ́ʰám (“I”)), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁móy.

Pronoun

मैं (ma͠i)

1. I

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Old Hindi

Alternative forms

• मै (mai)

Etymology

Inherited from Sauraseni Apabhramsa मइं (maĩ), from Sauraseni Prakrit 𑀫𑀏 (mae), from Sanskrit मया (mayā), from Proto-Indo-Iranian *máyaH (the instrumental singular of *aȷ́ʰám (“I”)), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁móy.

Pronoun

मैं (maiṃ)

1. I
   • c. 1500, Kabir, Assorted Poetry, pad 76, line 3:

     जग मैं देषूँ जग न देषि मोहि

     jaga maiṃ deṣūm̐ jaga na deṣi mohi

     I see the world, [but] the world does not see me.

Descendants

• Hindustani:

  Hindi: मैं (ma͠i)

  Urdu: میں‎ (ma͠i)